Finger Fiasco

It was a fine summer's day when we set out for our Returning Riverman's trip. During June the river was really high and really fast, so we would take two 5 mile trips instead of one 12 mile trip so we could have more staff and less scouts. I taught the Whitewater merit badge and some of the requirements had to be fulfilled on moving water aka not the lake. The most difficult requirement for the boys was a self rescue: I gave them the option of either jumping out of their boats into the river, which is equivalent to bathing outside in the North Pole, and swimming their boat to shore (mimicking if they had been thrown out of the boat and had to swim it to shore) OR jumping out and then getting back in without tipping, which they should be able to do because it's a requirement for the canoeing merit badge, which is a prerequisite for both the trip and the whitewater merit badge. Either choice is cold, but the latter is easier because it is done in a long, straight, pretty smooth stretch of the river. Also, it was easier and safer for me because I didn't have to worry about trying to find a safe spot for them to get their boats to the shore and then worry about keeping everyone together while they got back in the river. I never had anyone choose that option, which was awesome.
(in the picture you can kind of see that there is not much access to the shore. The water is also pretty swift so it's tricky.)
On this particular trip, which was on a Wednesday, I had two lovely little scouts, who, quite frankly, I'm not sure how they passed the canoeing merit badge the year before. They struggled the entire trip so I spent a majority of my time floating along side them, giving them pointers and suggestions. When we got to the stretch where I usually have the scouts do their self rescues, all the boys but this particular boat went one at a time and all were successful. These two boys kept telling me that they weren't doing it and they were too scared and it was too cold (which should have been a major sign...). I told them that it was fine if they chose to not participate, but if they didn't do the requirement, I wouldn't be able to give them their merit badge. They could have a partial, but I couldn't pass them off. They said that was fine and we kept going down the river. As soon as we got off the calm stretch, they told me that they wanted to try the self rescue. I wouldn't let them because they wouldn't have enough time to be messing around like that because they would need to paddle to stay away from the sides. They kept saying they wanted to do it so they could get their merit badge so I finally told them that when we got to the take out, I wanted them to paddle ten feet from shore, leave their paddles in the boat, jump out without swamping their canoe, and swim it to shore. Should be simple enough...
When we got to the take out, I had my 2 other staff stay with the rest of the group while I coached Scout 1 and Scout 2 through their self rescue. When they were 10 feet out, I told them to jump. Scout 1 jumped into the water, with his paddle in hand, and immediately freaked out and swam straight to shore, leaving his buddy, paddle, and canoe in the river. Scout 2 managed to tip the boat as he was exiting, but at least he stayed with the boat and attempted to pull it out. I was already on shore watching them get out, so I myself didn't miss the take out (which is a pretty big stretch of bank). I started following scout 2 along the bank, trying to calm him down and talk him through getting the boat out. He was just holding onto the back of the canoe as it pulled him down the river, 10 feet from shore. He was so close,and I just kept thinking, come on! It's not that hard! Just swim it over to shore! After a few more seconds I realized that Scout 2 wasn't going to be able to get it out by himself, so I jumped into the water to help him. I was about 10 feet behind him and I figured I'd be able to catch up to the boat fairly quickly, so I told him to let go and get out. Too late I realized that when his weight wasn't slowing the boat down anymore, it would travel even faster. The boat took off like a shot. I made sure Scout 2 got to the bank and then ran up to the road. By this time Shaun (my camp director who had come to pick us up) had realized something was wrong (there are bushes along the bank so you can't see the river too well) and had somehow turned the 15 passenger van AND 8 canoe trailer around on a 1 1/2 lane dirt road and was following us the best he could down the river. I ran up to the van, told him everyone was fine, but we'd lost a canoe. We took off down the road. (My 2 staff stayed with the rest of the group, who were all out of the river.) As we were going, I was kind of thinking we were never going to be able to catch the canoe, and if we did, there was no way we'd get it out of the river. But we drove about a mile down the road to some trailer houses with HUGE chainlink fences around them. And these weren't just any ordinary chain link fences...instead of the top being like this ^ it was like this v. So there were vicious pieces of metal sticking off the top. (the fence is really pretty tall. You can't tell really from this picture, but it's actually taller than I am by a foot or two.)
The houses were the first place that was semi-close to the river from the take out, and the last place for another 5 or so miles. We climbed the fence, and by we I mean Shaun vaulted it like an Olympic high jumper, while I struggled to get to the top, then proceeded to sit up there, trying to figure out how I was going to get down. I had felt my swim shorts catch on the top of the fence, so I was trying to figure out how to get them unhooked, without falling off the fence. Shaun was almost to the river by now so I figured I better stop messing around and get over there to help him. I decided I'd just have to sacrifice the shorts, so I jumped. My left hand also caught on the fence, so I ripped it a little on the way down, along with ripping my shorts a LOT. I landed on my feet. And then fell on my face. I'm not sure if Shaun saw my amazing fence scaling skills, but if he did he had the decency not to laugh. Out loud. I ran to the river just as Shaun said, There it is!! I looked where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was the blasted canoe, still floating about 10 feet out. I only had one thought: Get that thing out of there before it passes us and we never see it again!! I jumped off the five foot drop (and I'm not exaggerating) into the river; luckily I still had my PFD on. Then I had another thought: Holy COW this water is cold! I swam out to the canoe, rolled it upright, and grabbed a thwart. Then I saw why Scout 2 had such a rough time getting it out. It was like holding onto the bumper of a car and trying to pull it backwards while someone was driving it forwards. I finally got it to the shore, but the water was still so deep I couldn't touch the bottom. There was also the problem of the 5 foot drop and the dense bushes. I started grabbing their limbs that were hanging into the river with my free left hand and discovered the branches had thorns. It's a good thing I was numb from the mixture of cold water and adrenaline. The limbs weren't that strong and they kept snapping off in my hand. I was like, Great. We caught up to the canoe, I got it to the bank, and now I can't even slow down enough to get the stupid thing out. Shaun was following me along the bank as best he could, but there wasn't much he could do. Finally about 15 yards, which felt like 500, from where I got in I found a sturdy limb that stopped me. Shaun and I then proceeded to try to get the boat out between two bushes, him pulling from the top and me pushing from the river while hanging onto a bush. We'd get it almost out and then the river would catch it and pull it back in. Finally we got it out enough that I could get out and help him pull. We got it out of the river, but then it was stuck on a bush, so Shaun went down to get it unstuck. He got his uniform pants went, but he's a good man because he didn't even complain. I finished pulling it up and on the last pull a sharp pain shot through my left ring finger. I looked down out it and realized that my battle wound from the fence had gotten blood all over the deck plate of the boat. Whoops. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the tip of my finger was pointing towards my middle finger. I couldn't really feel it because I was still numb and pumped with adrenaline, so I flicked it. It jiggled back and forth. It was kind of gross, but kind of intriguing because it didn't hurt at all. Shaun saw me looking at my finger, asked if I was ok, and I replied: I think I broke my finger. He asked if I was serious, probably because I was so calm and hadn't said anything sooner. Truth is, I'm not even sure when it happened. I'm thinking as I was trying to get a hold on the stupid bushes. Who knows for sure. Anyway, we got the canoe on the trailer, picked up the other scouts and scoutmasters and staff, who were all fine, and headed back to camp, where there were already rumors going around that I a broken arm, possily a broken leg and that I was in critical condition. Oh the joys of the scout camp rumor mill. (Shaun had called Jeremy the program director and told him we were going to have to reschedule the 2nd canoe trip because I had a broken finger.)
My friend Shaylie drove me down to Idaho Falls where we barely made it into Community Care by 8, when they close. They took some xrays and poked my finger a lot and were basically worthless. They told me they thought I had torn the tendon and would need reconstructive surgery that would end my job at camp. They splinted it, told me they'd email the xrays to a hand specialist, and sent us back to camp.
Turns out I only fractured a piece of bone off of the 1st knuckle which was connected to the tendon and it would only require a pin in my finger for 6 weeks while the bones grew back together. Luckily we only had six weeks of camp left, right?
The next Saturday morning I had surgery, which I stayed awake for. They drilled a pin into my finger (literally drilled it. I asked them not to tell me when they were putting it in and they said they wouldn't. Then the nurse said, You'll hear the drill though. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. And I could feel the vibrations through my hand. Creepy.) They hyperextended my finger so the fractured piece would rest where it was suppose to be. Then my mom picked me up and we headed to my cousin's wedding reception in Boise. It was a long weekend. After that it didn't hurt much, except for the day I knocked it out of place with the rowboat oar which resulted in another doctor visit. :(

I spent the rest of camp with a pin sticking out of the end of my finger. I learned to protect it pretty well and also adapted my own way of paddling so I could still guide trips. It actually helped because it forced me to always have to paddle on one side (the right) which is I guess what you are suppose to do if you are reallly good or something. I got the pin removed on August 1, the last day of camp. It really wasn't that bad and it was a small price to pay in order to stay at camp. I'm so glad that I didn't have to have reconstructive surgery and quit my job. I'm also thankful for Dr. William Wilson in Idaho Falls who worked with me and made it all possible.

(you can see the pin sticking out of my finger...)